The Art Gallery of NSW’s large entrance court was jam-packed for the world-premiere of Artology REMIX, with many people having to stand as audience numbers exceeded expectations.

https://youtu.be/ZfiqLAftoeo

On entering the space, the audience was confronted with a real maze, made up of crowd-control ropes, little towers of mobile phones playing videos softly, and teenagers standing like statues. The audience had to negotiate their way through the maze to earn a seat.

The show was a deliberately genre-breaking piece of performance art, using Picasso’s radical painting The Women of Avignon as its inspiration into poetry, painting, sculpture, dance, abstract movement, video art and song – all conceived and executed by a bunch of brave and brilliant teenagers.

REMIX is a program that discovers young artists and treats them like professionals, giving them that rare opportunity to create a major work of art for performance in a professional setting, such as the Art Gallery of NSW.

In 2013, the team of mentors included Cathy Milliken, the renowned former head of education at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rhys Martin, professor of dance at the University of the Arts, Berlin, and composer and Artology REMIX’s artistic director Lyle Chan.

The personal growth experienced by the young artists was remarkable. As Ed, a 16-year old participant said, “it pushed me out of my comfort zone and opened my mind…I feel more confident with my skills.” Or as Sydney, aged 15, said, “It was great to combine genres I’m confident in with those I’m not confident in.”

Expressions of interest are now being sought from teenagers who would like to participate in REMIX 2014. Please email us : info@artology.org.au